Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Our cats, Duchess and Jasper. Duchess is the grand white lady, Jasper is our clown prince.









Angel Bunny loves to snuggle. Isn't she the sweetest fuzzball?

I love this fuzzy face. She is absolutely precious.



Chickens hanging out in the yard-Red and Rocket, and my head chicken in charge, Lily.


Here are the girls in the run.
We have the world's most spoiled chickens!



Sophie frolicking and close up! Our first raised bed, in process and ready to plant.

















Binky

Homestead update

I finally have photos to post of the homestead and critters. We have had such nasty weather for the last couple of days, rainy and cold. I am ready for spring to return. My peas and carrots have not sprouted yet, but I am sure I am being premature.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

One garden box done!

We finally finished one of our raised garden beds. Three more to go, at least. We have had to purchase soil. We covered the bottom with newspaper to squelch weeds, then added straw to fill the bottom part of the bed. It took about 24 bags of soil then compost to top it off before it was full. It looks beautiful and ready for planting. Too bad I don't have anything ready to go in!

The beds from last year need some work. The soil has settled, so I'll need to buy more soil to top them off, then add some compost. For those beds, which are not as tall, I want to plant strawberries, lettuce, peas, and herbs.

I want to plant a lot of basil. I am dreaming of pesto! I did buy a rosemary plant today, but I need to decide where to put it.

Still lots to do!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hurry spring!

I have made some progress getting this growing season started. I have planted my tomato and pepper seeds in their starter cells. I planted some lettuce seeds in containers on the porch. I found red leaf lettuce at Wal-mart yesterday, already growing. I put those in other containers on the porch. Angel Bunny loves lettuce, especially red leaf lettuce. Growing my own should save me some money.
The compost is looking good. My “youngest” bin is filling, but I know it will be a while until it is ready. The “oldest” bin is awesome. I sifted it yesterday to use in planting my lettuce.
I ordered a worm composting system yesterday, so I’ll be getting that going soon. I could have made my own, but I needed a system that worked as easily as possible. I can’t wait to have those worm castings!
I am hoping to start filling the raised bed that is done and build one more this weekend. Slowly but surely, the homestead is coming alive!